Video: Rove doubles down against O’Donnell

posted at 5:34 pm on September 15, 2010 by Allahpundit

He’s not technically “against her,” but in rattling off her dirty laundry instead of giving the standard “we need to unite” post-election pep talk, he’s notably out of step with most of the rest of the righty punditocracy today. It’s too bad, although after last night’s infamous appearance on Hannity, he’s sure to be a RINO scapegoat in November if she loses no matter what he says or does now. Better to have him up there on the ledge where he can be pushed than to have him climb down, no? Castle, who’s refused to endorse her thus far, also really needs to put his hard feelings aside and do the right thing here. Even with today’s fundraising bonanza, the only shot she has at the seat is more money, money, money, but his donors are wavering and may walk away in loyalty if he holds a grudge. Must be tough for Castle to hear repeatedly that he’s a cancer on the GOP whose victory would set back the conservative cause even more than a Democratic win and then, in a moment’s notice, be told that the GOP’s survival in Delaware depends on his endorsement. But politics is a tough business. Patterico managed to put his hard feelings aside to back her. How about it, Mike?

One fun possibility to mull over here: A commenter e-mailed this morning wondering whether Rove might be deliberately antagonizing tea partiers to keep them angry and motivated and donating to O’Donnell. I don’t buy it, but Rove’s just Machiavellian enough that I can’t bring myself to discount it entirely either. If the only shot at this seat now is to generate massive Republican turnout, and if a surefire way to generate that turnout is to give them an establishment boogeyman to “send a message” to, then why wouldn’t Rove be that boogeyman? Him and Rush, playing good cop/bad cop! A bit too clever by half, right? Ah well.

Comments

She’s puzzeled why she has a tax lein? Her foreclosure was a technical bank error? Then she sold the house to her boyfriend/campaign advisor? Sued by Fairleigh Dickinson?

He’s right – you cannot tell the voters to go to your website for answers. And most of you here would normally ask these questions of any candidate. But becuase she was endorsed by Palin and Castle was a Rhino – you don’t seem to care.

You’ll forgo the small facts/small stuff and take whatever – no questions asked.

This behavior is not befitting a legitamate Conservative candidate – is really what he is saying, and he is right.

It isn’t that anyone is ignoring her negatives- assuming they are true. It’s that Castle’s are just as bad and he’s a de facto Dem. Read Rushes opening segment today. He sums it up perfectly and addresses your point in particular.

This primary is the AZ primary redux. Except this time the conservative won. As has already been pointed out today at HA, Ole Cranky is back to his McAmnesty schtick supporting the DREAM Act. Nice work AZ Repubs. Thank you DE Repubs for using your brains. Go O’Donnell! Don’t forget to send her $1 everyone.

Are most of the people on this site absolutely crazy, Tea Party zombies? I’m as right-wing as you can be in legitimate U.S. society and therefore recognize that there are 2 dimensions that need to be evaluated in candidates: positions and character. O’Donnell lies about her academic and other credentials, has zero substantive work experience, has incredibly shaky financial circumstance (which is totally different from having financial difficulties which anyone can have), and brings flaky lawsuits against one of the most consequential and heavy-weight conservative organizations in the country (Intercollegiate Studies Institute). She’s a total moronic idiot fruitcake just like Sarah Palin who — apart from being an uninformed ditzy flake (apart from her knowledge of US energy/exploration policy) didn’t have the honor or integrity to fulfill her term in public service. Yet Karl Rove (who I agree is over-rated and self-serving) is the bad guy for pointing out O’Donnell’s disqualifying character deficiencies. What sort of government do you people want? Good-bye Hot Air and enjoy the cool-aid.

It isn’t that anyone is ignoring her negatives- assuming they are true. It’s that Castle’s are just as bad and he’s a de facto Dem. Read Rushes opening segment today. He sums it up perfectly and addresses your point in particular.

This primary is the AZ primary redux. Except this time the conservative won. As has already been pointed out today at HA, Ole Cranky is back to his McAmnesty schtick supporting the DREAM Act. Nice work AZ Repubs. Thank you DE Repubs for using your brains. Go O’Donnell! Don’t forget to send her $1 everyone.

JimP on September 15, 2010 at 8:54 PM

But it is all true.

I cannot believe the commenters here are giving her a pass.

I cannot believe Michelle Malkin, normally an astute whistle blower is all over Rove but fails to question anything about Christine O’Donnell’s past.

This is not the normal behavior of Conservatives – at all.

What’s in the water?

I think Sarah Palin has bewitched every one of you.

Not to mention her vile part in trying to paint Mike Castle as gay, she’s a shameful mess.

livetsown, April, the rest of you with your panties in a knot – why would you believe what the media (that brought us the totally unexamined Obama/Biden while brutally attacking Palin at the slightest excuse) says about ANY conservative, ever? These charges may be true. On the other hand, they made be minor, explainable issues blown up for the convenience of liberals. It’s not like that’s never happened before.

Do you not see the benefit of withholding judgment, and refusing to provide Democrats with ready-made campaign ads?

It isn’t that anyone is ignoring her negatives- assuming they are true. It’s that Castle’s are just as bad and he’s a de facto Dem. Read Rushes opening segment today. He sums it up perfectly and addresses your point in particular.

Ahhh, so being an honest moderate republican is a worse sin than being a dishonest weirdo who would tell the nazis where jews were hiding?

We just can’t help it! We swear it won’t happen again and then she gives us a wink and then smiles and we find ourselves trooping off to vote for… someone? Can’t remember the rest… but it was the right to do, cuz she’s so purrty!

You missed the point April. Assuming it’s all true about O’Donnell: we have a choice between two scum@#$. One is a known, on the record, RINO/Dem and the other is a self procalimed conservative. Do you stick with the devil you know or take a chance on the devil you don’t know?

We do know Castle is a 5th columnist, but you are concerned about the rectitude of conservative candidate? Why are you not concerned about Castle’s rectitude? Again, read Rush’s opening segment today. I know you won’t though. You and the other apparatchiks just want to bellyache and tell people who know Castle stinks and are glad O’Donnell won that we are bewitched and zombies. So, I’ll play along: yes, we are bewitched and zombies and we are going to bewitchingly zombie our way to taking back the country from the elites and the useful idiots like you and ‘livetsown’.

Last Wednesday, Fredric C. Samson of Mount Holly allegedly trespassed on the Runyans’ Mount Laurel property and took photographs as their youngest daughter, Isabella, played in the front yard, according to a Mount Laurel Police report.

The 8-year-old went into the house and told her mother that Samson was standing in the driveway, according to Jon Runyan. Loretta Runyan, a former Houston police officer, got into her car and followed Samson for four miles until he stopped at Rep. John Adler’s Evesham campaign office.

Well, here’s the COMPLETE exchange…where she makes it quite clear that she would NEVER lie even if it meant telling the nazis where jews were hiding.

So, I guess nutjob O’Donnell only lies when it comes to her financial weirdness or that she’s NOT really a graduate student at an ivy league school. But, jews? Ah, I’d rat ’em out in a second.

Sorry, but if you guys are down with this stuff, you’re as loony as she is.

O’DONNELL: A lie, whether it be a lie or an exaggeration, is disrespect to whoever you’re exaggerating or lying to, because it’s not respecting reality.

MAHER: Quite the opposite, it can be respect.

IZZARD: What if someone comes to you in the middle of the Second World War and says, ‘do you have any Jewish people in your house?’ and you do have them. That would be a lie. That would be disrespectful to Hitler.

O’DONNELL: I believe if I were in that situation, God would provide a way to do the right thing righteously. I believe that!

MAHER: God is not there. Hitler’s there and you’re there.

O’DONNELL: You never have to practice deception. God always provides a way out.

1. You consider Politico a reliable, evenhanded source of information about conservatives?

2. We’re still paying on my husband’s student loans, and most of our friends under 50 are in the same boat.

3. “She fulfilled the last course requirement this summer. It was just a general elective course,” said O’Donnell campaign manager Matt Moran.”

So, worst possible case scenario, she did everything but some unspecified last course completion – and we may never know exactly what the details on this are – spoke vaguely, imprudently, and perhaps willfully dishonestly about whether she had her degree.

Joe Biden plagiarized. Obama refuses to release any of his college info, but we know about his drug dealing roommate and his cocaine use. McCain lies repeatedly about “building the dang fence” though he hopped back on the amnesty train quick enough. Vitter allegedly frequented prostitutes and wore diapers, but he’s getting re-elected. Again. (And with my vote, because whatever his personal predilections, he pretty reliably conservative.) I could go on and on and on, citing Repubs and Dems. And from what I’ve heard, Castle’s record isn’t too savory either. I’d venture to say that 90% of Congress has done things far worse than this, but they have the political savvy to smooth it over or hide it.

As I see it, very few people are coming out there and saying O’Donnell is the Best Candidate EVAR. They’re just saying she’s preferable to the establishment squish. And now that she’s officially the candidate, you folks might want to think about toning it down a bit, just like you all would be DEMANDING we do if Castle had won.

Sorry – I believe Karl Riove has assumed the intelligent Conservtvie position on Christine O’Donnell. She has many unanswered questions – many things that have been said about her happens to be public record and can be verified.

She needs to address the voters of Delaware sooner than later.

If the Dems ran someone like her – you guys would be going after Olberdouche for standing up for that candidate – and not demanding that they answer the necessary questions.

Why would you not want questions answered from someone who will be running as a Republican – when there are things that obviously need to be answered????

It doesn’t matter and the questions for O’Donnell are suddenly cancelled out becuase Castle is a RHINO??

The complete exchange establishes exactly what I said it did – that she believes God would provide a way for her to avoid lying.

Look, it’s not so much that I care about O’Donnell. I really don’t. I’m just AMAZED that you folks are so rabid against her, when she is now the bona fide candidate. It’s DONE. You can’t change it. It’s her or Harry Reid’s pet. You’re stuck with her just like we were stuck with McCain. That’s how it goes sometimes, and Rove’s little temper tantrum is ridiculous and unbecoming and most of all, unhelpful.

O’Donnell supporters are in a win/win situation. If she wins they’ll say “I told you so” and when she looses, they’ll blame “The great RINO conspiracy.”

To hell with taking the Senate or actually effecting U.S. policies, they’ll get to either gloat or gripe. So childish, so pitiful.

I’m not quibbling about whether the charges made against her are true or not, I really could care less, but nominating someone with a 50% disapproval rating who only gets 36% against her opponent’s 47% less than two months before the election is moronic. And of course Rove is upset, and not because he’s “establishment” or a “RINO,” it’s because he understands that the only way you change things in America is by winning elections, not flushing sure things down the toilet.

Well, bless his heart. You know, we love our friends, there in the machine, the expert politicos, but my message to those who say that the GOP nominee is not electable or that — or that they’re not even going to try, I say buck up. Buck up. Competition is really good and it makes everyone work harder and the contested primaries have been great for voters, great to our party, great for democracy at work, and I have absolutely nothing against Karl rove or any of the guys who have much fatter political resumes than I will ever have, but I just want these fellows, they need to realize that the time for primary debate now is obviously over and it’s time for unity, because the time for choosing is near. What we need to do is not lose sight of the ability we have here now, the opportunity to celebrate and capitalize on a weekend left, a — a weakened democrat party. We need to go forth and conquer for the American people.

Looks like she’s going RINO hunting again – Hey Karl, some free advice for you from Christine: perhaps you can curl yourself into a smaller beta target.

April, if you don’t think Castle’s cosponsorship of the DISCLOSE act was unethical – not legally, but certainly morally – you have a serious problem of your own.

Aside from that, as other commenters have pointed out, your concern trolling for O’Donnell is ridiculous. Especially given that it’s after the fact. NOTHING you can say or do now will make him the GOP candidate. All you’re doing now is hurting the GOP which you allegedly care so deeply about.

HANNITY: I interviewed her and I felt her explanations were more plausible —

ROVE: Did you ask her about the people who were following her home to her headquarters and how she has checked each night in the bushes? Did you asked her — I mean, there were a lot of nutty things she has been saying that just simply don’t add up to —

April, if you don’t think Castle’s cosponsorship of the DISCLOSE act was unethical – not legally, but certainly morally – you have a serious problem of your own.

Aside from that, as other commenters have pointed out, your concern trolling for O’Donnell is ridiculous. Especially given that it’s after the fact. NOTHING you can say or do now will make him the GOP candidate. All you’re doing now is hurting the GOP which you allegedly care so deeply about.

Laura Curtis on September 15, 2010 at 10:33 PM

One man’s morals are another man’s sins…you can not legislate morality.

But we can make sure all of our elected officials act within the law and the ethics of this country and government.

Last Wednesday, Fredric C. Samson of Mount Holly allegedly trespassed on the Runyans’ Mount Laurel property and took photographs as their youngest daughter, Isabella, played in the front yard, according to a Mount Laurel Police report.

The 8-year-old went into the house and told her mother that Samson was standing in the driveway, according to Jon Runyan. Loretta Runyan, a former Houston police officer, got into her car and followed Samson for four miles until he stopped at Rep. John Adler’s Evesham campaign office.

Seems winning elections got the GOP to that wonderful year of 2008. There just might be a little more to it than that!

sharrukin on September 15, 2010 at 10:09 PM

Not really, no. The GOP int 2008 and 2010 lost because of the Iraq war and Bush’s approval. Them fairing poorly in just two elections has brought us Universal Healthcare, a new lib on the Supreme Court, more regulation of and government intrusion into the private sector, it has made us weater politically & militarily and put us billions and billions and billions of dollars deeper in debt.

If we manage to take over the Senate this November, Republican Senator will be able to mitigate much of this damage. It won’t be blog commenters attempting to right the ship, it won’t be talk radio hosts, tea-party activists, or bloggers or ex-vice-presidential candidates, it will be Republican Senators, both RINO and conservative who will be writing the laws and leading the committees voting the votes.

If we don’t win the Senate that all the above noisemakers will continue to make their noise, but nothing will actually get done.

FDF & Churchill held their noses and partnered with Stalin to save the world, I would hope that True Conservatives® would be able to swallow their pride and partner with a RINO to save our country.

Heh. Now that I think about it, it seems like many of the same people who insist that America is on the brink of complete failure and that Obama is destroying it intentionally are more concerned about “teaching the GOP a lesson” than they are about the country that they insist is in peril.

Let’s just get to the bottom line: I’d vote and campaign for any given felon, if I was assured they’d debate, argue, campaign, and ultimately vote against every single demoncrat/Nobama bill, resolution, nominee, treaty and/or request for permission to pee. We are fighting for our Nation’s future. At present, the fight is political, but it is still a down and dirty fight. In this context, anyone, and I do mean anyone, who is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We can replace those who prove unworthy in the next election. In this one, we need hardcores who’ll hit the beaches like Marines on Iwo. BTW, Rove is not a patch on Machiavelli–there would have been no Clintonites left in any part of government before the end of Bush’s first term, if Rove had any gumption at all. The Bush administration was remarkable, in part, for achieving the good that it did, despite being critically infiltrated and sabotaged from within. The bad that it did was a direct result of misdirected “moderation” in matters that called for a firm, if not aggressive conservative approach, like immigration, spending, and national security leaks.

Rove and Dana Perino jumped the shark on this one! America is in a fight for it’s life, especially financially. Bush apologists need to be banished as well as big spending Democrats and RINO Republicans. Most Americans can relate to facing financial ruin under the big tax and spend policies of the recent past. If anything O’Donnell’s financial problems equip her to reign in the oppressive spending policies of the federal govt. Here is a chance to rub it in the face of Biden and Obama and she takes office the day after the election to slow the lame duck theft that is planned! Remember in November! Sweep all Democrats out of every office in the land and repeal all laws that Obama passed!